Sunday, November 13, 2005

Grab Your Remote, And Make That Person Dance

Sometimes the oddities of technical advances are just somewhat startling. Take the case of remote control. It saves you steps in changing the channel on your TV, you can fly model airplanes. and now, you can send a missile from that model down to some unsuspecting terrorist, from the comfort of a control panel somewhere in Florida.

Now, there is a new advance, remote control humans. Make him dance to the left, and swing that partner to your right. Yep science has found the ultimate square dance caller, a remote control. They have incorporated the use of music in some applications.

You put the head piece on and soon you will be obeying every move to the remote's joy stick. What happens is a tiny amount of electric current is sent through your brain, affecting your vestibular balance. And more strikingly, can make you make moves that you cannot resist. This is part of what they have already accomplished:

"There's no proven-beyond-a-doubt explanation yet as to why people start veering when electricity hits their ear. But NTT researchers say they were able to make a person walk along a route in the shape of a giant pretzel using this technique."

Applications range from video games to helping unstable people remain erect. And of course, there maybe some more darker applications. Already at least one defence contractor is looking at the possibilities.